{"id":186498,"date":"2025-03-15T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/solar-system\/skywatching\/night-sky-network\/embracing-the-equinox\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T04:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T18:00:26","slug":"embracing-the-equinox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=186498","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Equinox"},"content":{"rendered":"
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3 Min Read<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmbracing the Equinox\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"illustration<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Illustration showing how Earth’s tilt leads to the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receiving changing amounts of sunlight over the course of the year. At the equinoxes, neither hemisphere is more tilted toward the Sun, so both hemispheres receive the same amount of sunlight.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredits: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Depending on your locale, equinoxes can be seen as harbingers of longer nights and gloomy weather, or promising beacons of nicer temperatures and more sunlight. Observing and predicting equinoxes is one of the earliest skills in humanity\u2019s astronomical toolkit. Many ancient observatories around the world observed equinoxes along with the more pronounced solstices. These days, you don\u2019t need your own observatory to know when an equinox occurs, since you\u2019ll see it marked on your calendar twice a year! The word \u201cequinox\u201d originates from Latin, and translates to\u00a0equal\u00a0<\/strong>(equi-)\u00a0night\u00a0<\/strong>(-nox). But what exactly is an equinox?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

An\u00a0equinox\u00a0<\/strong>occurs twice every year, in March and September. In 2025, the equinoxes will occur on March 20, at exactly 09:01 UTC (or 2:01 AM PDT), and again on September 22, at 19:19 UTC (or\u00a011:19 AM PDT). The equinox marks the exact moment when the center of the Sun crosses the plane of our planet\u2019s equator. The day of an equinox, observers at the equator will see the Sun directly overhead at noon. After the March equinox, observers anywhere on Earth will see the Sun\u2019s path in the sky continue its movement further north every day until the June solstice, after which it begins traveling south. The Sun crosses the equatorial plane again during the September equinox, and continues traveling south until the December solstice, when it heads back north once again. This movement is why some refer to the March equinox as the\u00a0northward equinox<\/strong>, and the September equinox as the\u00a0southward equinox<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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A full disk view of the earth from GOES 16, GOES East on the vernal Equinox.<\/div>\n
NOAA\/NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Our Sun shines equally on both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during equinoxes, which is why they are the only times of the year when the Earth\u2019s North and South Poles are simultaneously lit by sunlight. Notably, the length of day and night on the equinox aren\u2019t precisely equal; the date for that split depends on your latitude, and may occur a few days earlier or later than the equinox itself. The complicating factors? Our Sun and atmosphere! The Sun itself is a sphere and not a point light source, so its edge is refracted by our atmosphere as it rises and sets, which adds several minutes of light to every day. The Sun doesn\u2019t neatly wink on and off at sunrise and sunset like a light bulb, and so there isn\u2019t a perfect split of day and night on the equinox \u2013 but it\u2019s very close.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Equinoxes are associated with the changing seasons. In March, Northern Hemisphere observers welcome the longer, warmer days heralded by their\u00a0vernal<\/strong>, or spring, equinox, but Southern Hemisphere observers note the shorter days \u2013 and longer, cooler nights \u2013 signaled by their\u00a0autumnal<\/strong>, or fall, equinox. Come September, the reverse is true.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Originally posted by Dave Prosper: February 2022<\/em><\/p>\n

Last Updated by Kat Troche: March 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Depending on your locale, equinoxes can be seen as harbingers of longer nights and gloomy weather, or promising beacons of nicer temperatures and more sunlight. Observing and predicting equinoxes is one of the earliest skills in humanity\u2019s astronomical toolkit. Many ancient observatories around the world observed equinoxes along with the more pronounced solstices. These days, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15683],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-night-sky-network"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186499,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186498\/revisions\/186499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}